Forum - View topicNEWS: JManga Site Launches with Works Never Printed in U.S.
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Nebs
 Posts: 385 Location: University of Illinois |
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Hmmm, pricier than I was expecting. And as bad as it sounds, I was really hoping for some smutty/risque manga from seinen magazines like Champion Red, Comic High, and Young Magazine.
 As unlikely as it was, this project was the best hope to get such titles out in the US. And if they did that, they would surely get my money.
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jsc315
 Posts: 925 |
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I just realized something this is very much like emanga.com which is owned by DMP. They are a lot cheaper and have the same point system and many of the volumes you have a preview to check out at least.
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einhorn303
 Posts: 1180 |
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That's not at all true. DRM is not an inherent part of digital comics as a format; you can buy tons of DRM-free comics. I found some just by randomly Googling "DRM-free comics," including this post mentioning a few. In manga, there's the recently started GEN manga. There's tons of manga on DLSite that's DRM-free. I've bought DRM-free comics from DriveThruComics. Etc, etc. Just because a bunch of mainstream publishers claiming that some anti-consumer practice is "The Only Way To Do It," does not mean that's the truth. Otherwise, we'd still be reading flopped manga and watching dub-only "Star Blazers"-style cut-ups of anime. |
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Josh7289
Posts: 1252 |
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My clear and direct thoughts: If these prices aren't cut by at least half and if they do not offer a monthly "all you can read" plan for $10 or so, this service will fall flat on its face.
Hell, Crunchyroll is $7 a month for unlimited anime, which is generally more expensive than manga. |
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Zilan
Posts: 167 |
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they responded pretty quick to my feedback I sent out on the site, using the feedback tab thingy. They said this.
I guess not all hope is lost? I just don't understand how they thought this would work. The site is clearly a HUGE ripoff. |
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Tamaria
 Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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I noticed some old CMX titles on the site (Oyayubihime Infinity, The Young Magician). How does that work? Is DC still active in the manga industry? Does Jmanga use the old CMX translations through DC or are this titles retranslated?
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PrimalX3
 Posts: 104 |
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Finally! Legal Online manga!
The payment model I would prefer is to "rent" instead of "own". Kind of like with how you can watch anime on crunchyroll, but you can't keep it. Paying a hefty price to keep a "digital" copy is kind of  . I would rather pay something like say 5-15 cents per to be able to see a manga chapter unlimited times for a week before it expires. So I wouldn't mind paying a low price per chapter just to see it a limited time. They should make that alternative payment plan for those that want to read digital manga for the on-going stories, but can't afford to permanently "own" it.
You know what I'm saying? For example, I want to read the latest chapters of Bleach, Naruto, Bakuman, and various others as they are released. Kind of like how they do it with anime on crunchyroll{simulcast? Or at least 2-4 day wait like they usually do.} |
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Akukame
Posts: 117 |
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The problem with a rent plan is that a lot of people don't read the manga more than once. It benefits the consumer far more than it benefits the publisher. Especially at that price point you were throwing around. They're currently offering manga at about $9. 10 cents per chapter would mean less than a $1 per volume? Thats absurd compared to their current price point. With that said, I would also prefer a true subscription based model. Even if it was slightly limited. So, the current model, you can purchase say 1 volume per month with that $10 and you permanently own them. I would prefer a subscription model, even if it meant a higher cost per month, where I can read as much as I really want to. They could even have levels or something. Say $10/month for 5 volumes/month. $20/month for 10 volumes/month, etc. But that would be in an ideal world. Honestly though, the current price point is just too high. It would have to effectively be cut in half before its really doable for me. Though its not ideal, I'd put up with spending $5/volume. Especially with the kind of seinen selection they're putting out. |
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GWOtaku
 Posts: 678 |
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I admit I didn't know about that stuff and I certainly see the appeal from our point of view, but I don't see how it's a viable option. Explain to me why a mainstream publisher would ever want to distribute their comics with zero copy protection. We know exactly what would happen. The only thing worse than scanlations is scanlations ripping off official, professional-level translation. Ripping off physical books is a thing that happens now, but offer a simple DRM-free PDF and that makes the product many times easier to exploit. Just to quip, Tokyopop not flipping manga was actually a good business move first and foremost. My understanding is that it actually cost more to print manga flipped instead of the way it was originally presented in Japan. |
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einhorn303
Posts: 1180 |
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You're positing that "DRM-free products are not a viable option." But there are countless examples of DRM-free selling much better. With digital music, DRM-free MP3 is the industry standard, and it has been for years. iTunes, Amazon MP3, and eMusic are all doing fine though. The book publisher O'Reilly dropped DRM on their ebooks, and it increased their sales by 104%: http://boingboing.net/2010/01/22/oreilly-drops-ebook.html And speaking of mainstream publishers, J.K. Rowling has decided to publish Harry Potter as a DRM-free ebook. If pirates want to rip and distribute a file, they will. All DRM schemes can be hacked and circumvented, and quickly are if enough people want it. A pirate could take JManga's translations, slap them on raw scans of the Japanese manga, and torrent it if they wanted to; the DRM is useless at actually stopping piracy. Scanlations exist, and JManga isn't going to change that; DRM here will do nothing to combat manga piracy. All DRM does is hassle legitimate customers. And it also costs less to publish ebooks without DRM schemes. |
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Tamaria
Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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Of course flipping manga is more expensive because it involves a lot more editing. If you mirror every image, you have to go back and edit parts of the artwork to make sure things make sense (text in the background, logos). Another possibility is rearranging the panels, but that may destroy the flow of the manga. It's not just about what's in the panels, it's how the panels connect that shapes the way a reader experiences a manga. So yeah, lots of work and work costs money. |
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Bingal
Posts: 95 |
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I was interested until I've heard that they aren't going with an ''all-you-can-eat'' pricing policy like Crunchyroll does. And when digital copies cost as much as printed ones, isn't helping one bit.
I'll wait and see how it goes. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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They said before it will get a wider release when out of beta. Of course, it now is out of beta... |
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ArthurFrDent
 Posts: 466 |
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People, please! Calm down a little. Remember that the site is brand spankin' new... how Jmanga interacts with customers is also new, and they do seem fairly responsive to requests...
But we need to make it that. REQUEST stuff from them. Indicate to them the price point that seems good to you, but maybe NOT in terms like "they're insane if it's over $X" or "I hope their whole model FAILS." Yeah? You realize that WE are trying to entice them to bring this stuff to market? It doesn't help if we start busting their chops right away when they are still trying to figure it out. Also? Remember that this is run as a Consortium, a committee as it were. Decisions and changes through such things take time. This whole thing has taken time to get off the groung. A bit of patience is warranted. |
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einhorn303
Posts: 1180 |
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I sent them a question about DRM-free downloads via their contact form. Their reply was:
So I think I can freely disregard them for now. |
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